Nothing says money like a gold-on-gold Porsche 959

You may think that the profit heavy ‘we’ll paint it any colour you like’ bespoke departments such as Ferrari’s ‘Atelier’ and Lamborghini’s ‘Ad Personam’ are a relatively modern phenomenon. Those two are. But Porsche has been giving its customers what they really want (regardless of price or taste) since 1978.

It was then it launched Porsche Exclusive Manufaktur, offering special modifications and conversions to series produced cars. The initial spark for the exclusive small series was a request from TAG owner, Mansour Ojjeh, in 1983, who wanted to drive a very special 911: a road version of the Type 935 race car.

But in 1989, a special request came in from the Middle East. A sheikh called the division with a very unusual request, ordering no less than seven unique-coloured 959s for his collection. Each one had a colour-matching interior and even the tailpipes were painted to match. One of the seven cars was painted gold. Like proper gold. Everything gold. A golden ride fit for Goldmember. So gold we’re surprised “I love GOOOLD! The taste of it, the schmmell of it, the texture…” wasn’t written across the dash. And now it resides in the Porsche Museum.